Editorial Team
Editor-in-Chief
Yufang Gao
Dr. Yufang Gao is an interdisciplinary conservationist with a joint Ph.D. in conservation science and environmental anthropology from Yale University. Over the past two decades, he has worked with international, national, and local organizations on diverse wildlife conservation projects, primarily in the Tibetan Plateau, the Himalayas, and East Africa. Dr. Gao is the founder and director of Conservation Edgewalkers. He also serves as Co-Chair of the IUCN China Species Specialist Group and is a research affiliate of the InterAsia Initiative at Yale University.
Editorial Board Members
Dr. Lav Kanoi is a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer (Anthropology) with the Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture (REEC) Initiative at the Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University. His research in environmental anthropology and the environmental humanities, drawing on the social and natural sciences, focuses on the social and environmental dimensions of cities and urban waterscapes. Dr. Kanoi’s research has appeared in various notable journals and book collections such as Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, and The SAGE Handbook of the Social Sciences among others. Dr. Kanoi is also a literary translator working between classical and contemporary Indian and European languages.
Dr. Yu Luo is the Suzanne Wilson Barnett Chair in Contemporary China Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Puget Sound, USA. Her research explores ethnicity and indigeneity in the Asian borderlands, urban–rural transformations, heritage and tourism, multispecies relations, and China’s global nexus. She is the author of Ethnic Branding in Contemporary China: Buyi and the Paradox of Difference (University of Washington Press, 2025), and her work has appeared in a range of journals, including Modern China, Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, Social and Cultural Geography, and the International Journal of Heritage Studies.
Dr. Umunay serves as Thematic Lead for Food Systems and Land Use at the Global Environment Facility, where he oversees food systems programs, builds partnerships, and provides strategic guidance for several global GEF Integrated Programs. In this role, he leads a team of technical experts, ensuring effective fund management, seamless program integration, and facilitating knowledge sharing and learning activities. He has authored over 30 scientific publications on the forest-climate nexus, land use finance, and sustainable commodities.
Advisory Board Members
Dr. Susan G. Clark is Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Policy Sciences at Yale University. She focuses on improving species and ecosystem conservation through research, policy evaluation, and organizational support. With fieldwork spanning over 35 species, including large carnivores and endangered mammals, across multiple continents, she also mentors students in policy sciences and works with diverse groups to enhance conservation decision-making.
Dr. Michael R. Dove is Professor of Social Ecology and Anthropology at Yale University. His work focuses on the environmental relations of local communities, especially in South and Southeast Asia. Over the past 40 years, he has spent more than a dozen years in the field in Asia, carrying out long-term research on human ecology in Borneo and Java, developing government research capacity in Indonesia, and advising the Pakistan Forest Service on social forestry policies.
